Wiser Words

I might not have read at a better time. One of my more entertaining diversions is reading Etiquette Hell, wherein you can submit various stories of abuses to the sanctioned world of good manners, as well as participate in discussion boards, etc. I was reading through one of these threads just a minute ago dealing with a woman who wanted to go to nursing school when her youngest went to kindergarten, but she was getting flak from all angles because she "would be 40 when you finish! That's too old!". One of the replies to this post said:

When I was thinking about going back to college, I told a friend of mine that I would be 42 when I finished. She said one of the wisest things anybody ever said to me about it, "And how old will you be after all that time if you don't go back to college?" In other words, you'll eventually be 40 one way or the other. Why not be doing what you want while you're 40?

Now, honestly, could that be any pithier, or any more wise? And the answer is none. None pithier or more wise.

The back story on why this really struck me is I finally pulled the mental trigger to start the application process do to my MLS at San Jose State in the fall of 2008. Admittedly, I have to get in first, but let's say I do: I will, by necessity of having small children, have to start out pretty slowly, and I really don't know how long it will take me to finish. I would hope no more than five years, but I really can't say. And then I got a little depressed after putting Bean to bed, thinking, Christ, I'll be 37 if I get lucky enough to finish in five years...is that just way too old to start a new career? Funny how sometimes things wobble across your radar when you need 'em most, eh?